Great Embryos!!

I always get a little loopy w/ the valium and forget some stuff...

But out of 14 eggs, 8? Were mature (which I was really disappointed w/ ) and 6 fertilized. This was the worst results as far as maturity and fertilization we've had so far....

But the great news is that they transferred 2- 10 cell (grade A & B+) embryos!!! (that's the best we've had so far!) And the other 4 are doing really well and could potentially make it to freezing! We have 2- 7 cell (grade?), 1- 8 cell (grade B-), & 1- 10 cell (C+). The last cycles our remaining eggs have all been around 4-6 cells and low grade. So, I'm very optimistic about potential freezing and just elated about the two we put back in. The remaining eggs have 2 more days of growth before they will determine if they will freeze them or not. My RE has very high standards and won't even try to freeze them unless they meet them.

Just to give you something to compare to. Our 1st cycle we transferred 1- 8 cell & 1- 6 cell (both grade b) and our 2nd cycle we transferred 1- 8 cell & 1- 7 cell (both grade A). Having 2- 10 celled embryos this time was a complete shock!

Now, I don’t recall this conversation too well…but I guess before my RE started the procedure…he asked if 2 was ok to put back in and then told me that if it were his daughter…he’d suggest only 2. Isn’t that sweet? Given the high quality…I think it was the right decision.

My RE is very optimistic and said that the ET procedure went perfectly and he placed these 2 embryos in the exact place that he put the others…he said this is the magic spot.

My Beta’s are on 10/10 and 10/12….so we’ll see!

Embies are coming home today!

My ER on 9/27 went pretty good, although I had to stay an extra hour and get 2 bags of IV fluids due to my high E2 levels. They sent home information about OHSS and I have to go in 15 minute early (before the transfer) to get bloodwork so they can chk and make sure my levels are on the way down. I've also been instructed to drink 2 liters of fluids each day until my pregnancy tests. We retrieved between 14 and 17 eggs. Brad said the embryologist yelled out 14 and the nurse told me 17...so it's a little of a mystery.

I've been sooo bloated and a little sore off and on since I've been home from the ER. Very little spotting. I weighed 103pds last Friday and Tuesday night I weighed 109.5!! Brad thinks its from all the fluids they gave me.

Fast forwarding to today...I'm excited & nervous to get our fertilization report, however we didn't get any calls from anyone saying they needed to cancel...so I'm assuming at least 2 or 3 are good enough to transfer. I just hope over stimming has not complicated the ET or compromised the quality of my eggs.

Well, I'd better get going and get in the shower and get on to the list of things I need to do before we leave...valium take me away! :)

0dp3dt

Ok, I'm back...it's 9:32am just waiting for Brad to come home from the store. He should be here in a 1/2 hour. I just emptied my bladder and started sucking down all these fun fluids. It has be be full by the time of transfer at noon. Ahhh joy!

As for Brad's ipod birthday surprise...ya, well...his sister did a GREAT job at F'ing up my weeks of plotting and planning by leaving him a birthday wish voice mail that morning singing happy birthday, and then proceeding to say, "I know what Jenny bought you for your birthday and you are going to love it...I have one and it's really neat!". Well, I was playing the message on speaker phone for Brad and the minute he heard that he goes, "Oooooh yeah! Thanks Jen!". He knew immediately what she was talking about. I think I saw red and it took everything within me not to burst into tears. (Of course we had just walked in the house from my ER and I was sore and tired and probably a little emotional). But, thankfully he LOVES it and is so happy he has one. So, ultimately I guess that's what counts. Kind of...I'm still pissed.

Long story short...Retrieval tomorrow!

The past few days has been a complete whirlwind!

To recap:

9/23- bw came back at 2460. Don't do PM dose of Gonal, then do am dose tomorrow.

9/24- u/s (6 on my right side & 13 on my left) & bw (2979). Stop all Gonal doses & left RE's w/ plan to trigger that evening and do retrieval at 10am on Monday.

After bw came back & RE looked at my file they decided to change my ER to Tuesday to allow for more of the follies to catch up. Changed trigger to 1am on Sunday night (Mon early am) and ER on 1pm on Tuesday.

9/25- bw (3782). Back and forth conversations, but because levels were so high they reduced my hcg shot from 15,000 to 10,000 and take 1cc of fluid, mix w/ 1 vial and inject all.

Someone had a cancellation, so trigger was moved up to 10pm on Sun night and ER on Tuesday at 10am. We have to be there by 8:40 for Brad to give his collection and me to get prepped.

I'm really excited that we are scheduled back on Brad's birthday. The trigger shot went well. I iced up for a good 15 minutes prior and didn't even feel the needle go in. It didn't hurt until afterwards...kind of felt achy, but nothing big.

My ovaries are pretty tender, but nothing too bad yet thankfully!

2nd Ultrasound check...19 Follies & growing!

This morning I had 8 on my right side and 11 on my left. Total of 19. (1 more than this time my last cycle). My biggest follie was measuring 15.5.

I will stay on my dosage of 150IU in the AM & PM of GonalF and 5IU Lurpon (only in AM) for now. Unless they change it after my bloodwork comes back.

The nurse thought we are on track for Tuesday's retrieval, but we'll know more for sure tomorrow morning. I have to go back for another U/S and BW tomorrow at 7:15am.

E2 levels "Pretty elevated"

Got another message on my medvoice mailbox that my bloodwork came back "pretty elevated already". I'm not all that sure what this can mean and what my chances of cancelling this schedule could be??

I've been instructed to decrease my GonalF from 225IU in the AM to 150IU and keep it the same for the PM dosage.

Guess I'll do some research on the net and see what I can find on E2 levels.

EDIT: I just spoke w/ the nurse and she said my levels are at 1092 today. My last cycle I was at that on day8 and today is day6. She said there are wide ranges on levels and not too worry and that my body is just stimming too well this time so they want to make sure that I don't get too uncomfortable. I asked her if I should be concerned that possibly we'd end up cancelling the cycle and she said not to worry about it.

1st Ultrasound check...13 follies and growing!

At my u/s this morning we found 6 on my right side and 7 on my left. 13 total.

My nurse said that we are slightly ahead of where we were my last cycle (I had 11 follies and the largest was 12) and my largest was 13. She thinks we may end up bumping up our retrieval to Monday 9.26.05. Now normally I'd be way excited, but I was really hoping to have the retrieval on Brad's Birthday...but Monday is actually a better day for us as we don't have any smoothie school deliveries on Mondays.

The nurse is keeping me on the 225IU of GonalF in the AM and 150IU in the PM, but I need to ck the medvoice after 4:30pm to see if anything else has changed after they get the results of my bloodwork.

I go back in for another check on Friday at 7:40am. And probably some bloodwork on Saturday.

Sooooo...we'll see!

E2 a little high...

I just checked my medvoice and had a message from the nurse.

She said my E2 levels are a little on the high side, so they want to decrease my meds.

Tonight instead of 225IU of Gonal-F...I'll take 150IU.
Tomorrow AM take the regular dose of 225IU. Tomorrow PM go down to 150IU.
Wednesday AM take the regular dose of 225IU and then I have an U/S & BW.

I'm supposed to continue Lupron as directed (5IU/day).

I have to admit...my ovarian area was sore yesterday for about an hour and it's a little tender today. I thought I was just imagining it as it's a little early for that. Also, I've noticed that my ta ta's are sore as well. Who knows what that's all about.

I just hope we can get this under control. I'd really like to stick w/ the 9.27 retrieval date. I know it's silly to bank it cuz it's Brad's birthday...but you know how it is.

Happy "No more Repronex" Dance

I think I always forget how much I hate the Repronex shots. They are so stinking painful and always leave my tummy area so sore!

This morning I took my last dose...and I hope there will be no need to take anymore EVER until we are ready for another baby, that is!

I went in for my 1st bloodwork since I started my stims tihis morning and it took forever to draw the 2 vials of blood! I'm not sure why they took 2 again, but my blood wasn't cooperating apparently. I go in on Wednesday for my 1st u/s & more bw. I'm anxious to see how many follies I have growing and to compare it to my last cycle. My last cycle (#2) I had 7 follies on my right and 3 on my left (total of 11).

It's hard to believe that we might be retrieving next Tuesday! Only 8 days away.

Day3 of stims...blech

I'm thinking this is probably my worst cycle so far and it's only been 3days of stims.

I HATE the Gonal-F pen. It is so user un-friendly and so different from the Follistim pen.

Somehow yesterday I managed to give myself a big 1" diameter welt. It's pink and puffy. Had I not injected several shots in that area I would have thought it was pink worm or something. It hurts like a bruise when I touch it.

Only 1 more day of the Repronex. I hate those shots the worse...they sting like a sun of a ____!

I have a lab appt. tomorrow at 9:15, and hopefully things are going well inside. I haven't noticed any discomfort in the ovarian area, but it's a little early for that. I think my last cycle I noticed it about 4-5 days before the retrieval.

A friend of mine from BBC sent me her unused PIO (she was allergic to it) and in the box she sent...she sent me the Willow Tree Angel of Hope orniment. HOPE seems to be my motto lately...it's what keeps me going. I can't wait to put my Christmas tree up now. It was very sweet of her to buy it for me. And very ironic as I bought the regular HOPE angel for a friend (Karla) for her birthday.

Along w/ the fun shots...I've come down w/ some icky bugg. I thought it was just allergies but Brad and I are sure it's more than that as I've been complete congested and feeling achy. Hopefully this will pass quickly!

-J

Ipod!

No fertility updates today. Tomorrow I start my stims!

Brad's birthday is looming (9.27) and every time I ask him what he wants his response is simply, "Ipod". I'll say, "ok, well you aren't getting one...they are too expensive...so what else do you want?". His response...always the same, "Ipod". LOL! He's crazy!

Well, today Donna & I went to the Apple store at MOA and bought him the newest version of Ipods. It's called an Ipod Nano and it's as thin as a pencil and he is going to absolutely love it. I bought him the 2meg one that holds 500 songs. The 4meg one holds 1000, but is $250. I also bought him a $25 music credit from Mike. Donna got him a $50 gift card to the Apple store so he can buy either better earphones or some type of accessory.

I have it all worked out to have Mike help me out to throw him off. He's going to ask him what he bought from Brookstone today and Brad is going to be like, "What?" and Mike is going to say..."Oh, I saw that bag when I got home". LOL! I'm gonna yell at him to go get me something like I'm upset with him...and Brad will for sure think his birthday gift is something from Brookstone. I love it...

I can't wait til' his birthday now...he is going to be sooo flippin' excited!

:)
-J

Oh yeah...and because our baby(s) is going to be conceived that day! (How's that for optimism on a Thursday afternoon?!)

Full steam ahead!

My ultrasound went perfect. Both ovaries are quiet and my lining was 7.5a (which basically means I'm still bleeding). This happened last time as well...since I usually just start AF when I have my baseline.

I had to give 2 vials of blood for E2 testing as well as heloglobin checks. And because I'm still feeling ill (a killer headache that started yesterday afternoon has turned into what feels like the flu), and because she had a hard time finding a cooperative vein (big surprise)...she used a blood pressure cup to try to make my veins pop and by the time she got everything working...my hand was feeling numb and I was feeling nautious. Ahhh..fun times.

Anyway, assuming I get no voice mail on my medvoice service...I start my stims on Friday morning. My first bw will be on Monday (9.19), since they don't do it on Sundays. And then my u/s & more bw will be a week from today (9.21). Can't wait to see how the Gonal-F treats me and these follies of mine.

-J

AF is so rude!

When you never want to see her...she shows early...

And when you want her to hurry up and come...she's MIA!

My last BCP pill was Friday (9.9) and I expected her to be here by now. Although, they say after the last pill you "may or may not" experience some spotting or bleeding...I've always had a period a couple days after my last pill. I'm hoping this isn't a preview that something is wrong and that we'll have to cancel or postpone this cycle.

I guess we'll know tomorrow at my baseline u/s.

My estimated schedule is:

Wed 9.14 - Baseline u/s & bw
Fri 9.16 - Start Stims
Sun 9.18 - bw
Wed 9.21 - u/s & bw
Fri 9.23 - Pre-op appt w/ Dr. Jacob
Tues 9.27 - ER (Brad's 35th Birthday!)
Fri 9.30 - ET

This cycle we have also switched to "Gonal-F" in replacement of "Follistim" as my insurance will not cover the Follistim. I hope that I respond as well or better with the Gonal-F.

Maybe I'll get lucky and skip that messy visitor and move right into my stims?!
-J

Edit: She's here! She lally gagged a little bit, but showed up this afternoon. And JOY...she brought her good friend, Killer Headache! BUT, at least she is here and now I'm not too worried that my ovaries are already in motion. We need for it to be nice and quiet at my ultrasound tomorrow morning! :)

My first post...but a continued journey

This is my first time journaling online...so let's just hope I don't say or do something too terribly stupid! :)

After numerous losses (Ectopic - May03, Ectopic - Aug04, IVF#1 m/c - Jan05, IVF#2 twin m/c - June05) we have started our 3rd cycle of IVF. Today is day8 of my lupron shots and so far so good. Minimal pain and no bruising.

I go in for my baseline ultrasound on Wednesday (9.14). I shouldn't expect otherwise...but naturally I'm hoping everything is quiet and I can continue w/ my protocol of starting my stim shots on Friday morning. It's a little surreal to be doing this again, but oddly enough I feel so confident with this cycle.

Despite our losses w/ both previous cycles...I guess I feel like our bad luck has got to end soon...and why not now?! Maybe it's a little silly for me to be so optimistic and maybe I'm setting myself up for added grief...but I honestly feel so good about this cycle.

Thank you for joining me on this journey...we'll see how it turns out!
-J